Development of the country’s sharia finance industry will increase female participation in the economy as its financing is conducive to women’s economic empowerment, government official has said.

Economic Coordinating Minister Darmin Nasution said Indonesian fashion and halal cosmetics were among the well-performing industries financed by Islamic lenders. Most businesspeople in the two industries were women.

"Women automatically dominate the female-related businesses, aside from other male designers who also produce sharia fashion lines," he said during the Indonesia Sharia Economic Festival (ISEF) in Surabaya on Thursday.

Indonesia is one of the top five Islamic fashion industries in the world, with a total spending of US$12.7 billion annually. It is also in the world's top five regarding the sharia cosmetics/pharmaceutical industry with an average spending of $4.8 billion per year, according to data from Bank Indonesia (BI).